BY SCOT ANDREW PITZER
Gettysburg Times Staff Writer
Published: Tuesday, February 2, 2010 7:19 AM EST
Power lines feeding the restroom at Devils Den in Gettysburg National Military Park are being removed this year, as part of a multi-million dollar plan to restore the 6,000-acre Civil War park to its 1863 appearance.
The 75-year-old restroom is being removed too, in a project valued at about $500,000.
According to GNMP Interim Supt. Mel Poole, the Gettysburg Foundation — the park’s fundraising and management partner — has raised money to underwrite the project at no cost to taxpayers.
“The building is in a sensitive location for the environment and for the historic scene,” Poole said in a written statement Monday.
The 75-year-old restroom is being removed too, in a project valued at about $500,000.
According to GNMP Interim Supt. Mel Poole, the Gettysburg Foundation — the park’s fundraising and management partner — has raised money to underwrite the project at no cost to taxpayers.
“The building is in a sensitive location for the environment and for the historic scene,” Poole said in a written statement Monday.
“We think we can offer comfort facilities for the visitors elsewhere, and do a better job with preserving the historic battlefield here,” Poole concluded.
The restroom facility dates to 1935 and is not historically significant, per the National Register of Historic Places.
Originally, the park planned to bury the power lines and retain the restroom, but opted against it, citing concerns about “potential environmental impacts to the flood plain and the geology,” as well as the “expense of burying the lines in a boulder field.”
There are no plans to postpone other power line surfacing projects throughout the park. Overall, the park and foundation hope to place about 1.25 miles of overhead powerlines underground in the southern end of the battlefield, including the Althoff, Slyder, and Trostle farms.
“It really makes a difference, by opening up view-sheds, and removing those intrusions from the battle-field,” Gettysburg Foundation spokeswoman Dru Neil said previously.
The boulders of Devil’s Den and the nearby stream known as Plum Run are significant “major battle action areas” of the Gettysburg battlefield, the park explained Monday. Confederate brigades advanced across the area while attacking the lines of the Union Army on July 2, 1863.�
The project is expected to begin in the spring. Without the restroom, the park plans to direct visitors to other nearby facilities, such as the South End Guide Station on Emmitsburg Road and next to the Pennsylvania Memorial.
The restroom facility dates to 1935 and is not historically significant, per the National Register of Historic Places.
Originally, the park planned to bury the power lines and retain the restroom, but opted against it, citing concerns about “potential environmental impacts to the flood plain and the geology,” as well as the “expense of burying the lines in a boulder field.”
There are no plans to postpone other power line surfacing projects throughout the park. Overall, the park and foundation hope to place about 1.25 miles of overhead powerlines underground in the southern end of the battlefield, including the Althoff, Slyder, and Trostle farms.
“It really makes a difference, by opening up view-sheds, and removing those intrusions from the battle-field,” Gettysburg Foundation spokeswoman Dru Neil said previously.
The boulders of Devil’s Den and the nearby stream known as Plum Run are significant “major battle action areas” of the Gettysburg battlefield, the park explained Monday. Confederate brigades advanced across the area while attacking the lines of the Union Army on July 2, 1863.�
The project is expected to begin in the spring. Without the restroom, the park plans to direct visitors to other nearby facilities, such as the South End Guide Station on Emmitsburg Road and next to the Pennsylvania Memorial.